Giants try to Buc notion that it’s evaluation time
The assessment from the coach was this: The Giants’ offensive line put together its best performance to date last weekend, and it helped spark a victory over the 49ers.
Coach Pat Shurmur said he liked what he saw from new starting right guard Jamon Brown, believing the presence of the 340-pounder helped ease the protection concerns of Eli Manning.
“I think that’s a settling force for the quarterback when he’s pretty certain that the interior of the pocket’s going to be firm,’’ Shurmur said.
The starting offensive tackles, Shurmur added, “had a good night.’’ This was not the conversation after most games this season, as often was heard a discouraging word when it came to evaluating the play of the line and assessing blame in what was a 1-7 start and is now a 2-7 record heading into Sunday’s game with the Buccaneers in a get-together of last-place teams.
Praise from the man in charge is always welcome, but in this case one of the five starters on the line is not pleased with what went down last week.
“I thought it was my worst game,’’ right tackle Chad Wheeler told The Post. “I’m glad the coach said that and everything. We just didn’t deliver in the run game like I wanted to. There were some plays that just got away from me.’’
As much as the Giants seek to turn around the season and make good on Odell Beckham Jr.’s hope to run the table, the stretch run this winter is more about development and roster evaluation than anything else. Losing seven of the first eight games puts a team too far behind to realistically think any other way. What they have and what they need is paramount, and figuring out where a big guy like Wheeler fits in will come into clearer focus the next seven weeks.
After 31 sacks in the first eight games, Manning was dropped just once as the Giants snapped a five-game losing streak by beating the 49ers, 27-23.
If Manning is upright in the pocket, there will be opportunities to do damage, as the Buccaneers allow an NFL-worst 32.3 points and 292 passing yards per game. It was no coincidence Beckham notched his first two-TD outing of the season on the day Manning enjoyed his best protection.
“When he’s got time to throw, he’s going to be dangerous,’’ Beckham said. “The O-line has just got to do a better job like they did this week at blocking for Eli, giving him time. If they can do that, it’s going to be tough to stop.’’
The Giants rarely win and even more rarely win the week after a win. The vogue term used by players and coaches is “stacking wins.’’ Well, toddlers building with blocks stack better than these Giants. It has been nearly two years since they won back-to-back games, all the way back to December 2016. This is the extremely low bar the Giants have in front of them.